Individualism is a hallmark of American culture. We value the skills a single person brings to the workplace and how that one person leverages his or her skills to increase the capacity of the business. And, when we search for new hires, we look for a single person to fill competency gaps in our organization. How would hiring and retention practices change and consequently our business’s culture when we employ people based upon collective intelligence?

Collective intelligence is a relatively new field of research in business and leadership development. Simply put, collective intelligence is the total of a business’s potential that is much greater than the contributions of each individual employee. Theoretically, collective intelligence is a type of shared or group intelligence that arises from collaboration and connection between individuals and groups. To me it is a phenomenon of the correct connection between people that creates an integral field where all the people connect forming that common mind.

Metaphors that are cited the most as illustrations of collective intelligence are open source sites like Wikipedia or social media sites like Facebook. In these sites, people share their individually cultivated “marketable” skills and knowledge as well as deeply personal, one could say, subconscious skills of emotional intelligence and social connectivity. The information becomes co-inspirational and can easily and agilely morph as the group as a whole searches new directions. Collective intelligence is messier than the traditional paradigm of individual intelligence because collective intelligence operates from a real future possibility that is seeking to emerge. The end goal is present, but how to get there is not in a step-by-step blueprint.

Developing and then relying on collective intelligence to push your business towards previously unrecognized horizons requires a change in how you lead the organization. Dr. Otto Scharmer, a senior lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of the Global Intelligence and Gross National Happiness Lab which links international leaders in order to innovate beyond simply increasing their nation’s GDP, is a foremost researcher and writer in the field of collective intelligence. His advice to leaders who want to tap into the collective intelligence of their employees is two-fold:

leaders need to create spaces where people can reflect, sense, then prototype and implement and,

leaders should shape the organizational culture and structure to make them more able to benefit from already existent collective intelligence tools like blogs, wikis, tags and social media networks.

The result is relations characterized by transparency, trust and partnering, not hierarchy. Command and control leadership is replaced by cultivate and coordinate leadership.

True, the global culture is moving to value collective intelligence, and even individualistic cultures like America. The fluidity that people use to move in and out of groups rather than define themselves to one specific group with one defined goal characterizes collective intelligence. You are already doing it. Think about the different Facebook groups you belong to, diverse chat rooms that you participate in, LinkedIn connects. All of these groups inform the type of problems in your business that you want to tackle and how to approach these problems. Moving collective intelligence out of your personal life into your business life is a thinking leap that traditional education has not prepared leaders to take. Even the example of moving from personal life to business life does not represent collective intelligence ideas since this example uses lives that are separated instead of integrated.

As you begin to think about how collective intelligence changes your leadership style and how your business sets and achieves goals, take a look at http://www.scoop.it/t/harmonious-and-balanced-workplace. This is a collection of articles, blogs, comments and research that features integral approach to business and how to cultivate and coordinate a workplace that harnesses today’s society to meet tomorrow’s needs.

Archives

Subscribe to Blog via Email

RSS Feed

About US

Headquartered in Stamford, CT and with affiliates in Canada, United Kingdom, Israel and Russia, Thinking Integral Group is a part of a fast-growing global network of a new breed of business improvement consultancies with a mission of helping organizations to elevate their performance to the next level and successfully meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Find us on Facebook

The Secrets to Being Happy at Work

The Integral Body & Thinking Integral Group cordially invite you to join us for a FREE intro workshop "The Secrets to Being Happy at Work" on Dec 4, 2014 at 6:30PM. We all want to enjoy our jobs but why many of us are pretty unhappy being at work and don't really see much of advancement in their careers? Let's not waste our lives, life is too short to be unhappy - We invite you to take on a journey to greater job satisfaction and advancement in your career.We are anxious to see you and to share quite a few Secrets to Being Happy at Work. Space is limited, RSVP at https://happyatwork.eventbrite.com/ NOW!

June 9, 2014

Scrum Mastering and Thinking Integral Group have joined forces and created a unique agile framework that combines the latest achievements in Organizational Psychology with the famous Scrum methodology. The Integral Agile methodology naturally blends much-needed human element with Scrum’s powerful set of principles and practices. Adding human connection, the key component affecting team’s performance, enables organizations to create an agile, collaborative and connected culture that brings Scrum to its ultimate level of implement.

Thinking Integral to Present at IBM Innovate 2014

May 2, 2014

We are pleased to announce that Thinking Integral Group was chosen to present at INNOVATE 2014 - The IBM Technical Summit on June 5, 2014. We will run a special session

In businesses of all sizes, communication is a vital factor in achieving success on every level. Communication barriers persist throughout the business world amongst employees and in conjunction with potential customers and clientele, by cause of basic concepts such as tone of voice, body language and simple misunderstandings. Accumulation of conflicts in a workplace result in damaging consequences which consume and deplete a business both internally and externally. Join this session to learn how many organizations have created an open, collaborative culture, particularly when adopting tools that change the working life of employees, and the benefits they have realized from doing so.